In Japanese temples, visitors are usually greeted by silence, which can be broken only by the whispered prayers of the worshippers and the rustling of the leaves of the trees surrounding the shrine. But in the local holy cloisters not only pray. There is another tradition connected with the magic of time and the usual for the Japanese simplicity of communication with the gods. These are wooden ema tablets.
As soon as one enters the Japanese temple grounds, the eye is drawn to the Ema Alley. This is a place where people seek to express their thoughts and wishes by communicating with the gods. The wooden ema plaques become the carriers of these soulful revelations.
Hundreds of ema plaques with various wishes hang like leaves on trees around temples and on the hooks of special low wooden structures, creating an invisible link between heaven and earth, between people and gods.
It all starts with the visitor buying a plaque and writing down his or her thoughts on it, which can be aspirations, hopes, blessings for loved ones or even petitions for patronage for the future. It is important that each word written on the wooden surface carries a piece of the soul of the petitioner. After the writing is completed, the plaque is carefully hung in the place intended for it. And it immediately turns into a prayer message flying to the heavens. The trees of temples become a kind of sacred witnesses of human aspirations and secret desires.
Over time, the wooden ema plaques become a kind of history, telling of hidden joys and troubles, of exciting moments and past trials. They acquire the patina of time, as if becoming part of the temple itself, imbued with energy and life.
So in Japanese temples among the crowns of centuries-old trees, the magical story of ema - wooden tablets on which each visitor leaves his or her mark on eternity - continues. Japanese gods understand all languages. Hurry to Japan to ask them for everything you long for. Dreams come true!
